1. Leave to amend the prayer clause. Amendment be carried out forthwith.
2. Heard learned advocate, Mr.Nilesh A.Pandya for the appellant and learned advocate, Mr.Shevade for the respondent.
3. Learned advocate, Mr.Pandya for the appellant, relying upon a judgment of this Court reported in 1994(1) G.L.R. Page 119 in the case of State of Gujarat & Anr.
Vs. M/s Vir Vijay Construction Company, more particularly para 33, has submitted that the issue involved in the present case has been squarely covered by the aforesaid judgment and hence, it is requested that the order passed by the trial court may be quashed and set aside and the matter be remanded to the trial court for a decision afresh.
4. Learned counsel for the respondent has also stated that he has no objection if the aforesaid request is acceded to.
5. It is true that the identical issue involved in this appeal has been decided by a Division Bench of this Court in M/s Vir Vijay Construction Company (supra). In the said reported case, it was held that due to delay in payment of fees, if Arbitrator has accepted entire amount of arbitration fees and costs from the contractor, it cannot be said that he had received any pucuniary inducements or that he has misconducted himself by accepting the entire fees and costs.
6. In the present case, it was held by the trial court that accepting fees without the knowledge of the applicant and declaring the award is a misconduct and held the said decision as not being applicable. However, looking to the issue involved in the present appeal together with the law laid down in M/s Vir Vijay Construction Company (supra), this Court is of the opinion that the issue involved in the present appeal is squarely covered by the said judgment. Hence, in view of the aforesaid submissions made by learned counsel appearing for the respective parties, impugned order dated 15th September, 1998 passed by the learned Judge, Court No.20, City Civil Court, Ahmedabad, in C.M.As.36 and 195 of 1989 is required to be quashed and set aside and matter is required to be remanded to the trial court for a decision afresh.
7. In view of the above, this appeal is allowed. The impugned order dated 15th September, 1998 passed by the learned Judge, Court No.20, City Civil Court, Ahmedabad, in C.M.As.36 and 195 of 1989 is quashed and set aside and matter is remanded to the trial court for a decision afresh on its own merits, in accordance with law, without being influenced by this order and upon affording opportunity of hearing to respective parties.
[M.D.SHAH,J.] radhan